


of valerie

by yangaf



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, It's a love story baby just say yes, judy's gay, v's emo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:16:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29837301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yangaf/pseuds/yangaf
Summary: It’s in hidden moments that Judy gets to see her- when she’s smiling at a child in the street, when she sticks her tongue out trying to reload her pistol, when she clenches her jaw while trying not to laugh at something. The way her eyes go bright at the mention of her favorite restaurant or T.V show. The way she nuzzles her cheek into Judy’s hand in the calm, quiet hours of the morning.orBefore there was a mercenary named V, there was a girl from north Heywood named Valerie.
Relationships: Judy Alvarez/V
Comments: 16
Kudos: 135





	of valerie

Judy’s vodka cranberry tastes like shit. It’s probably because it’s only her second one in three hours, and it’s already lukewarm.

“I haven’t seen your brother in a while,” Pepe says from behind his bar, spit-shining a whiskey glass. Judy looks up from her phone at the feeling of V tensing in the seat next to her. “How’s he doing?”

“He’s fine.”

V’s response is too sudden- too quipped to be natural. Judy fights the urge to spin fully towards her and raise an eyebrow. V pays her no attention, though, instead choosing to continue playing with the straw in her glass. Pepe shrugs.

“It’s been, what, two years?” Pepe pauses, looking thoughtful. “Come to think of it, choom, haven’t seen him since you guys left for Atla-”

“Don’t wanna talk about this right now, Pepe,” V interjects, raising her glass to her mouth.

“Well, if you talk to him anytime soon, tell him I said ‘hi’ and that I wa-”

“I will, Pepe. Thanks.”

Pepe’s quiet for a moment, and then, he nods softly. His face falls, and Judy tilts her chin up to ask who he’s referring to when he raises his hand gently. He shakes his head.

Judy’s smart enough to get the message.

They’ve been crammed in El Coyote Cojo for about three hours, waiting in low lights for the Biotechnica rep to walk through the front doors and meet Kirk upstairs for some shady dealing. Suzie Q had contacted the both of them and all but forced them to take the job together. V wants to fuck Kirk over as payback for some car jacking job that went south. Judy wants to get her hands on the RTX 7077 graphics cards that’s being traded Suzie wants The Moxes to be more widely feared among fixers and mercs in the Badlands in order to get more jobs for the girls and add a little more dough to everyone’s pockets.

All in all, it’s a win-win. But, Judy’s been sitting for three damn hours, and her ass has gone numb on the hard leather chair. V’s been no peach, either- barely said a couple of sentences to her since they both met and sat down silently.

Judy supposes that it’s her fault.

The last time they spoke in person, V had been calmly yet desperately trying to get information from her on Evelyn’s whereabouts. Judy had been pissy and moody- all too anxious from Evelyn’s sudden off-the-grid behavior, and all too nervous in front of V. V, who was supposed to be dead, but had been standing six feet away from her in her private office only two weeks ago. V, who was looking for Judy’s missing best friend.

She had been so rude to her- making a horribly uncalled for jab at the losses that V suffered over the heist that killed two of her friends. That killed  _ her.  _ Judy had been callous, been cruel, been concerned for Evelyn to the point of gross hostility.

Judy cringes at the memory.

V’s hair is falling slightly into her eyes, shining black under the neon lights of the bar. Her eyes flash blue every once in a while, and after the fourth time, Judy picks up that she’s scanning every person that walks into the bar. Her jaw is tight, showing off sharp cheekbones and hollow cheeks. Her eyebrows are furrowed. Judy’s brain tells her not to bother V.

Judy’s throat clears.

“Come here a lot?” she tries, her voice scratchy from vodka and lack of use. V hums in affirmative, leaning down to take a sip of her fourth drink. Judy, unable to contain her boredom and awkwardness any longer, sighs loudly.

“Look, I’m sorry that I was such a dick to you. Okay? I-”

“Woah, wait- what- what the hell are you talking about?”

Judy blinks in surprise at the sudden interruption. V’s turned her chin towards her, an eyebrow raised, her brown eyes wide. Her straw hangs slightly from her lips.

She’s cute.

Judy shakes the thought from her head as quickly as it pops in.

“I- uh,” Judy falters, because V’s gaze is intense, and now that she’s really processed it, they’re sitting pretty closely together. 

“You- uh, you just seem… pissed. Like, you’re in a bad mood, or something. Ain’t really spoken at all. I know I said some pretty rude shit to you the last time I saw you.” Judy shrugs lazily, turning her stair down into her glass dejectedly. 

“I just didn’t know if it was because of me or not.”

V’s silent for a moment, before she snorts so loudly into her straw that Judy jumps at the sound. It’s the most uncharacteristic sound that she could have expected to come from someone like V- a calculating, deadly mercenary. But V’s shoulders are shaking with a small bout of suppressed laughter, and Judy, for all intents and purposes, is absolutely lost.

“I- oh, shit, Judy, I’m sorry,” V sighs, but her lips are slightly upturned. “Sometimes, it’s a little hard to get lost in my HUD.” When Judy just gapes at her, still confused, V continues. 

“I’ve been quickhacking the people in the bar that I pick up have any kind of corpo affiliation. Remote netrunning kind of takes… well, a lot of focus, so that’s probably why I’ve been…” V trails off and gestures vaguely into the air. “... Spacey?”

“Oh.” Judy doesn’t really know what to say. “I’ve only seen your Kiroshi’s light up a few times. Thought you were just being all… quiet and deadly. Merc shit.”

V chuckles, and Judy finds herself shifting at the sound. “I upgraded. Newer optics. Better for subtlety. I know that you were probably just stressed and anxious when I came that day. I didn’t take any offense. Don’t worry. I’ve definitely heard worse.” V goes quiet again for a moment.

“Jackie’s mom owns this place,” she says softly, looking down into her glass. “I’d say that, on top it all, it’s a bit hard being here, too.”

_ Oh. _

“Shit, V, I’m sorry. I thought you were just partners. The bartender bringing him up probably didn’t help, either. Take it he doesn’t know yet.”

“Jack wasn’t my brother. Well, not by blood, anyway. He was my best choom. Pepe wasn’t talking about him,” V mumbles after a moment, leaning down to sip her drink. 

Judy feels her forehead crinkle in confusion. “Then, who was he-”

“Don’t worry about it.”

They lapse into a silence- thick, but not uncomfortable. Judy, however, would like nothing more than to break it.

“Can I ask you a question?”   


“You just did.”

V smirks at Judy’s sigh, lopsided and lazy. She nods, though, and shifts in her chair towards Judy, who has to bite her tongue from spitting it out too fast. V’s eyeliner is dark and smoky, and it gives her gaze a depth to it that Judy can’t seem to look away from.

“Usually, when you run a braindance personal calibration, the user’s name shows up to add to their personal profile,” Judy starts slowly. The look that slips onto V’s face tells her that she already knows what the question is. “A name didn’t come up for you. Just the alias.”

“Don’t ask the question.”

V’s voice is smooth, low, deadly. She says the words with a calm conviction.

“What? Some big fucking secret, or something?”

“You don’t know me well enough to ask me that question, and I don’t know you well enough to trust you with the answer.”

“It’s just a name, man.”

“It’s  _ my _ name, and it’s none of your fucking business. Mind it.”

“Jesus, alright,” Judy finally concedes, huffing and slumping down into the bar. She’s scared of the venom in V’s voice, and she tries her best to hide it. “Fuck, I really don’t see the-”

“Our mark just entered the bar,” V cuts in, standing quickly. Her gaze is set towards the entrance, where a woman in aviators and a shitty polyester suit has just stepped over the door frame. Judy’s about to follow, but V presses a hand to her shoulder. “She’s armed. Let me take care of it.”

“V, I came to-”

“I don’t care. She’s got a Lexington that’s loaded to the fucking barrel. Let me take care of her.” V pauses. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Judy thinks to fight her, but the weight and warmth of her hand is convincing. “Fine,” Judy huffs. “Be quick, ‘kay?” V nods, and she takes one step towards their mark before Judy’s grabbing her by the wrist to stop her.

“And be careful, alright?” she tacks on hastily. V’s eyes soften, only for a second, but quick enough that it makes Judy’s chest go warm. V nods, and steely determination tightens her jaw as she walks away.

* * *

It takes all of twelve minutes for V to get the job done. Judy assumes that V doesn’t even need to fire her weapon since she doesn’t hear a gunshot. She watches her walk down the stairs near the back of the bar, a small stain of blood on her fingers and a groveling, begging Kirk stumbling behind her. The briefcase of graphics cards shines silver in the bar’s low, neon lights.

“Let’s delta. I’ve had enough of this pathetic motherfucker,” V snaps. Judy’s on her feet before V’s finished speaking.

“Please, V,” Kirk whimpers, sitting down on the steps and shoving his head into his hands. “Man, please. Come on. I had no fucking clue anyone else knew about the car, let alone that you were-”

V shoves the briefcase into Judy’s hands and whips around to level her pistol into Kirk’s puffy, red face.

“Shut your fucking mouth.”

“Please, V, I owe a shit ton of eddies to Wak-”

“And that’s your fucking problem, isn’t it?” V spits. Kirk flinches at the violence in her voice. “You got what you fucking deserved, Kirk. So did that corpo cunt. I know you she just pick these cards up off the street, and you’re too fucking dumb to know what to do with ‘em. I got my eddies, and these cards just got an owner who knows what to do with ‘em.”

“V, I swear to fucking God,  _ please _ just-”

The barrel of V’s pistol presses harshly between Kirk’s eyebrows. “I’m fucking tired of you yapping, yeah? You don’t get to come into this fucking bar and pretend you’re some hot-shot fucking fixer and  _ threaten _ people who owe you even a single damn eddie when the most you know how to do is get newbies killed because you’re too lazy to wipe your own ass.”

“V, that’s not-”

“Get the hell out of my bar, Kirk.”

Judy turns to see an older woman lingering behind the staircase, a cigarette in her mouth and a hand resting on the pistol in her holster. “I don’t know how many goddamn times I have to tell you that you’re not welcome here.”

Kirk blanches for a moment. His eyes dart between the pistol on his forehead and the pistol on the woman’s hip before he stands, slowly, raising his hands. Judy watches with suppressed mirth as a single bead of sweat runs down his temple. He nods, slowly, and V removes the barrel of her gun from his skin. He’s tripping over his own feet as he makes a break for the entrance, sniffling and scared.

V chuckles. “Thanks. I’m getting really sick of him-”

“And I don’t know how many goddamn times I have to tell  _ you _ not to point a gun at the only man who’s stupid enough to pay for parking at those meters. Everyone knows that Pepe pockets the eddies.”

V’s shoulders deflate, and Judy watches her shift from confident to cautious. “I know, I know. I’m sorry. For real. Job took me here and I wasn’t expecting him to be, well… that fuckin' pathetic, y’know?”

The woman sighs and takes a step closer to V. In the new light that shines on her, Judy can see the grey of her hair, the bags under her eyes, the sag of her shoulders. She takes another inhale from her cigarette before putting it out on her watch and throwing the butt on the ground.

“I know. And I also know that you haven’t been sleeping. You have those bags again,  _ mija _ .”

V scoffs. “I- what? I’ve been sleeping fine.”

“Don’t lie to me, girl. I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re tired and when you’re lying to me, no? You haven’t been eating well, either.” The woman takes a step forward, and before V can move, the woman has her wrist in a lock between her thumb and index finger.

“You’re getting too skinny again. What did I tell you? You don’t get to blame yourself and you don’t get to hurt yourself, either.”

_ Oh. This is Mama Welles. _

“I’m-” V’s voice cracks, just barely. “I’m not. I’ve been eating. I got that new machine in my pad. I’m good.”

“You’re paler than usual. When you first walked in earlier today, I had Mario make you a plate. I put it in the heating drawer, so it’s still warm. You’re not leaving without it.”

“I’ve been eating, alright?. I promise. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Judy went on recon with V before the stakeout at 7:30 A.M. The only things she’s seen V consume over the course of 14 hours is four mixed drinks.

_ “Mentirosa.”  _ Mama Welles snaps her fingers towards the bar, and Pepe disappears underneath the counter. When he stands back up, he’s holding a styrofoam box.

V huffs, shaking her head. “I swear, Mama Welles, I’m okay. I’ve been taking care of myself, alright? I’m a big girl. I’m good.”

V motions for Judy to keep walking, and her foot is almost out of the front door, when-

_ “Valerie.” _

Judy hears V stop dead in her tracks.

“Take the damn plate, child. You are no good on your feet if there’s nothing in your stomach. I’m not letting another child of mine go.”

V spins on her heels and walks quickly back towards Mama Welles, who simply holds out the styrofoam box with an unimpressed look on her face. V takes it, her hands shaking, mumbles a ‘thank you’ before turning once again and walking straight past Judy.

“Woah,” Judy calls, picking up her pace to catch up with V. “Damn, hold on a se-”

She cuts herself off when V wheels around and takes a step towards Judy, causing her to stumble backwards. Their chests are all but pressed together, and they’re so close that Judy can only see the line of V’s jaw and the outline of her bottom lip.

“You will forget you heard that,” V hisses, and Judy’s blood runs cold. “You will never tell another living soul that you heard that. And trust me, if you do, I’ll find out.”

V’s breath is hot on her ear, and her voice is dangerously low. Judy knows a threat when she hears one, but she also knows a turn on when she feels one. The topic, though, she can see is sensitive. Gone now is the glimpse of V she saw earlier- before her, now, is the mercenary that has shaken Night City’s higher-ups to their very core. Judy’s hands go numb and her heart sinks sharply as she nods, shakily, at V’s words.

“Yeah. Yup. No harm done.”

“No. Not to you.”

V is on her Arch and speeding away before Judy can feel her hands again.

_ Valerie. _

The name echoes in Judy’s head with sinful repetition.


End file.
